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Daily Archives: July 1, 2009

LANCASTER, Pa. — The only person enjoying Gerard Haran’s recent breakthrough with the Lancaster Barnstormers more than he is lives 130 miles away from the ballpark and keeps steady dates with a computer monitor.
“My father is really enjoying it,” said Haran, an Old Bridge native. “It’s like he is watching me play on TV a little bit.”
Video of Barnstormers’ home games — like the one Wednesday night at Clipper Magazine Stadium against the Somerset Patriots — is broadcast over the Internet, and Haran is taking advantage of the unique opportunity to create plenty of highlight footage.
The 2003 Old Bridge High School graduate and All-State baseball selection is hitting .377 (23-for-61) while reaching base safely in 14 of the last 16 games.
He has four doubles, three home runs, 14 runs scored and 11 RBIs during that stretch, his first as a lineup fixture since being named Division III National Player of the Year at the College of New Jersey.
“Since I’ve been a pro all I wanted was a team to give me a shot, and three years later I’m getting that shot,” Haran said. “(Playing every day) makes all the difference in the world.”
Haran, 23, went undrafted and has bounced around since 2007, garnering limited playing time during stints in three independent leagues and briefly at the lowest level of the St. Louis Cardinals organization.
He began this season with the Newark Bears but was released and appeared ready to move in another direction when the Barnstormers called.
“I was on the beach in Belmar, and I was thinking I haven’t been here in the summer since I was 16 or 17,” said Haran, who has a journalism degree. “”I was making a cognitive switch that maybe this isn’t going to happen for me. I was going through everything in mind.”
The prevailing thought, however, was that he had worked too hard during the offseason not to completely follow through — even if that meant accepting another back-up catcher job.
“I had like 30 bats in my car,” he said, “and that’s too many to quit.”
Haran arrived in Lancaster just ahead of the injury bug, and soon found himself in a catching/designated hitter platoon with All-Star teammate Jed Morris out of necessity.
“I have nothing left to lose,” he said. “This is the first time in my career there are no expectations. I just showed up, and so far, so good.”
Just ask the team nearest his roots.
Haran’s sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the 12th inning Monday night against the Patriots moved the potential winning run up to third base where it later scored on a wild pitch. His tie-breaking RBI double in the bottom of the eighth inning Tuesday would have given the Barnstormers’ two straight wins if the bullpen had not blown the save.
“He’s got good fundamentals,” manager Von Hayes said. “He doesn’t miss too many fastballs, but what impresses me more than anything else is his ability to lay off breaking balls in breaking-ball counts. Defensively, he’s better than what he expected. He has played his way into a position where he is sharing time and we’re going to give him every opportunity to keep doing what he’s doing.”
It is easy to look at Haran’s .355 batting average in June and assume that he is soaking in the bitter sweetness of an “I told you so,” but that would be missing the very essence of the youngest and most exuberant Barnstormer.
“If this process didn’t humble me, I’d be stupid,” he said. “”The one thing my journey has showed me is that you can’t get too high or too low. I try to live in the moment. I just want to show I belong.”